I haven't heard anything at all but it is cool to think of what the options could be... So, where could you hold a 5,000+ mile off-road rally?

USA/Canada - You'd have to circle around some and double back on yourself a bit to fit that distance in any place with tough terrain, but possible. If you added Mexico you could make it interesting but then security concerns might come into play.

Australia - Maybe some good options but I don't see it ever being held in just one country.

If I was running a team from europe and wanted to suggest a way to save money for the teams and reduce the limit of access to lessor funded teams, i would say start the Rally in Europe. It would bring the race home to a larg fan base and spectating could be vigorious like in So Am. Maybe munich and wind around the Mediterranian in "friendly territory" through hungary romania bulgaria turkey iraq saudi arabia then end in Qatar. Gonna have to map quest that To see if there are enough miles of desert in the end.

If the results of the Arab spring finally bring stability to the area, Dakar will return to Africa. Maybe not West Africa and the city, Dakar, but Tunisia, Libya, Egypt. Morocco then east would be ideal, but without Algeria welcoming the event a cross N. Africa event wouldn't totally work.
Anyway, pray for peace, prepare for rally.

I haven't heard anything at all but it is cool to think of what the options could be... So, where could you hold a 5,000+ mile off-road rally?

USA/Canada - You'd have to circle around some and double back on yourself a bit to fit that distance in any place with tough terrain, but possible. If you added Mexico you could make it interesting but then security concerns might come into play.

Australia - Maybe some good options but I don't see it ever being held in just one country.

Mongolia/Russia and a 'Stan or two - Interesting?

Back to Africa - Would they do that?

Hmmm. It's fun to spin the globe around and wonder...

How about pick three from your list, keep South America and run one of them every three months. I'm sure that you it could be worked out to so the races take place during the best time of year in each place.

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If you're thinking about it your just trying to justify it to yourself.

If I was running a team from europe and wanted to suggest a way to save money for the teams and reduce the limit of access to lessor funded teams, i would say start the Rally in Europe. It would bring the race home to a larg fan base and spectating could be vigorious like in So Am. Maybe munich and wind around the Mediterranian in "friendly territory" through hungary romania bulgaria turkey iraq saudi arabia then end in Qatar. Gonna have to map quest that To see if there are enough miles of desert in the end.

So Munich to Qatar 2014?

Seems like Safariberg has started the rumour

The Argentinian press has already said that 2014 will again commence there and in Buenos Aires, but that's only the press and the Argentinian one at that

The Middle East sounds interesting, but forget it on logistics, border and troubles - pretty much the same in North Africa other than Egypt & Morroco and parts of Mauritainia - hmmm - been most of there unless you venture back, but a big target!! .

You cant get from Turkéy to Saudi without going through Syria, Iraq or Iran - so no go .
You can fly over them, but again no go for a rally.

To get from Saudi to Qatar and vica versa by road is beaurocratically difficult and no gurantees that with all the paperwork you would be in a que for hours and miss deadlines - what is guranteed though is that someone (more than one) would not get through

Having said this I am not sure how they got between the UAE and Qatar after the DC this year, as that passes through KSA - perhaps someone could enlighten us - whatever happend though it would be more than just a few hours.

UAE into Oman and back could be 1,500 km x 2 - but permissions and logistics/ border crossing would be fraught with paperwork risk also.

Qatar has the money to support such a rally, but with a country the size of a postage stamp (just see what this years rally was like there) it is a very difficult scenarion to consider how they would be Dakar central?

Most of the Northern Hemisphere will be in the grip of winter - Canada already do snowmobiles, sledges and huskey's, so unless the calander is adjusted by 6 months a no go?

North America - you NA guys tell us, I'm sure there could be a book written on why and why not?

Plenty said about Africa - there is the South and the Namibian Desert, but things do eat you down there

I don't see it. With the current unrest in all around the Sahara, Africa is not an option in the foreseeable future.

Europe just doesn't have that kind of open terrain. The Central Europe Rally in '08 was a disaster with 3-4 days consisting of running the same gravel tracks on military testing grounds over and over. Everybody apart from Carlos Sainz hated it.
The interest in Europe (Spain, France and the crazy Dutch) is there anyway, no matter where in the world it is run.

North America is very unlikely due to land use issues.

Central Asia might be an option.

South America still makes the most sense. Stunning scenery, stable politics, crazy fans and an a good market for Honda and Spanish sponsors.